My Fight against Grade Inflation: A Response to William Cole

Perhaps I should begin by saying that I give Cs. I even give Ds and Fs, when they are called for. I am in the humanities, the discipline taken to task by William Cole (1993) in his Chronicle of Higher Education article decrying the ease with which students get As and Bs. By way of introducing myself, I teach lit erature and writing, and have for the last five years to support my own writing habit. For the past six months I have also taught on the faculty of Marylhurst's Prior Learning Experience Program. To use my worst class as an example? a class on research papers at a regional university that shall remain nameless? fully 50 percent of those completing the course received a C or lower. This is not